He and Junginger also provided new details of what happened Jan. 31, when the officers shot 50-year-old Anthony McDowell outside his home in the 24000 block of Southeast Oak Street.

Their version of events, and a recording of the frantic 9-1-1 call that night from McDowell's wife, Teresa McDowell, contradict the family's account of the shooting.

In an interview last week, the family claimed McDowell merely held the rifle over his head with both hands. But Bemis said the distraught military veteran pointed the gun toward officers before he was shot.

Bemis said McDowell "walked out of his house with a powerful hunting rifle, failed to respond to commands to drop his weapon, then pulled the gun's bolt back -- the first step of loading a round -- and leveled it in the direction of police officers."

Galbreath and Justus, Bemis said, had no choice but to fire at McDowell. After the news conference, Junginger said through a city spokeswoman that he did not know which officer fired the fatal shot.

McDowell's wife and his sister-in-law, Tina McDowell, said after the shooting that the officers had not given him enough time to follow commands after they told him to drop the rifle.

Teresa McDowell also said she did not tell the dispatcher her husband was suicidal. But in a transcript of the 9-1-1 call that was released at the news conference, she indicates she is afraid her husband is going to kill himself.

"He says if he can't find (his keys) he's gonna do it in the front yard," Teresa McDowell said.

Teresa McDowell also said a week after the shooting that reports her husband had run out of medication for depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome were inaccurate. But she told the dispatcher that McDowell "ran out of his meds."

A woman who answered Teresa McDowell's phone Thursday evening said the family would have no comment.

McDowell was a military veteran known as "Sarge" to his friends. He operated a nonprofit that served the needs of returning veterans and was planning a Veterans Day parade through downtown Gresham that had received the endorsement of the City Council.